Robert Goodby wrote:

>To me, socialism is the simple idea that people should control their
>economic destiny to the greatest extent possible, through meaningful
>participation in economic decision making, control over the means of
>production, etc. Socialism is simply economic democracy--the notion that
>average people have a right to control their own lives, most notably how
>they make their livelihood. It assumes that when the means of production,
>capital, etc. are in private hands, that this by necessity results in a
>corresponding concentration of power and absence of democracy. The
>current plight of electoral democracy in the U.S. is a prime example.
>
>It should also be noted that the "capitalist" world includes, not
>coincidentally, some of the most repressive and impoverished societies on
>the planet. Haiti, for instance, has long been a part of the capitalist
>world, serving (as does much of the third world) as a place where people
>and resources are exploited for the benefit of foreign capital. The
>Haitians currently making clothes for Walt Disney, at .30 per hour, are as
>representative of the capitalist system as the  CEO of any large corporation.
>
>That some have, in the name of socialism, created tyrannical social and
>political systems says nothing about the worth of the socialist ideal. It
>is one of the most common, and monstrous, non sequiters to dismiss the
>ideal of socialism because of the failure of the USSR, etc. One could
>with equal validity dismiss the IDEALS of Christianity because of the
>inquisition, or the ideal of democracy because of the corporate tyranny
>currently existing in the U.S., or modern medicine because of the work of
>Mengele. The failure to put ideals into practice only suggests we should
>try harder, or seek alternative means.
>
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Thanks Robert. Perhaps my mistake is to equate socialism with the notion of
a state (as in polity). Obviously socialist ideals exist everywhere, and may
well be practised successfully in any number of ways - probably even within
my own work place where decisions are taken collectively, artists
collectives, food co-ops, kibbutzim within capitalist Israel, new age
societies, barter groups, etc etc.

- Michael Coghlan.